Google Penguine 4.0: Normal Turbulence Alert!

First launched in 2012 as Penguin 3.0, it today has an update after 707 days! Here’s what to expect from Penguin 4.0. A refresher before we start discussing the real-deal:

What is Penguin? Some Facts:

Google first launched the Penguin update in April 2012 to catch and penalize websites spamming the search results, especially those websites who used link schemes to manipulate search rankings (buying links or obtaining them through link networks).

The Penguin 3.0 basically worked to track website with inorganic link profiles or bad links, that are there just for the sake of rankings.

Webmasters, What to Expect?

“Historically, the list of sites affected by Penguin was periodically refreshed at the same time. Once a webmaster considerably improved their site and its presence on the internet, many of Google’s algorithms would take that into consideration very fast, but others, like Penguin, needed to be refreshed. With this change, Penguin’s data is refreshed in real time, so changes will be visible much faster, typically taking effect shortly after we recrawl and reindex a page. It also means we’re not going to comment on future refreshes.”

Data Refreshed Real-time: Historically, the Penguin as an algorithm had to be refreshed to take consideration of the changes a webmaster made to its site. With the Penguin 4.0, changes will be accounted in real time and results can be noticed much faster, just when the site is recrawled and reindexed with the algorithm running live within the core search algorithm.

“Penguin now devalues spam by adjusting ranking based on spam signals, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site.”

Spam Devaluation: The Penguin 4.0 is equipped to rank based on spam signals from individual pages, rather than affecting ranking of the whole site. Which simply means that individual pages will be penalized as averse to the entire domain.

Tip: While not radical, the Penguin is sure to affect website ranks based on user experience and spam link profiles. It is recommended that as brands, we continue to focus on creating experience intrinsic, compelling websites with organic link profiles.